Among the lesser visited queries in the modern conception of the game is just how does one just define the West Indies cricket team especially at a time when the game is riddled by a constant onslaught of changes; amid the rapid rise of T20 cricket and with Test cricket having to remind the fans of its importance? Amid these changing vagaries of time, just what adjectives does one use for this lot of talent from the Caribbean besides the overused one: powerful hitters of the cricket ball?
While an England, Australia and India are definitely the big power centres of the sport often being the drivers of excellence one notes about Cricket, the likes of South Africa and New Zealand are often mired by a notion of being excellent and yet underrated, isn’t it?
So what could possibly be said about the West Indies whose prowess in the game, generally speaking, besides dealing with the cricket ball with brute force is to fashion themselves as the big entertainers? Is there something else to them there needs perhaps greater attention?
Truth be told, if you thought about it especially in the light of how the team performed just recently against Pakistan, you’d realise there’s brains to the side besides the prevalence of brawn, which usually gets over highlighted.
And a cricketer that represents the thinking ability of this very talented lot of cricketers is a certain Justin Greaves.
Someone, that you’d reckon, becomes all the more vital to the current set up where while the likes of Powell, Hetmyer, Rutherford and co. pull in the big punches with the bat sending the ball a long way into the crowds, the likes of Greaves represent an all round balance that renders the team the composure it needs to excel amid pressure.
And in serving an excellent first hand example of just that, Justin Greaves excelled with the ball against Pakistan as he took a cracking 5 wicket haul by taking a wicket each in an over that he bowled in the first innings whilst conceding not even a run. Not one run.
The West Indies most recently completed a memorable 80-run win in the opening Test of the two match series at the Brian Lara academy but the bowler who devastated a Rizwan, Babar and Shan powered side with an explosive spell wasn’t the one who bowls with explosive bowling speeds targeting the rib cage.
Justin Greaves took a wicket each in 5 consecutive overs that he bowled in the middle overs stages during his West Indies’s first outing with the ball but didn’t concede a single run. And thus broke a 149 year record of a bowler claiming a fifer by clinching a wicket in 5 overs on the bounce whilst not even being hit for a run.
He would walk out of the ground named after a celebrated giant of the sport by glowing his own against a mighty fine achievement, something that even the great Lara would be proud of!
Greaves took, on the whole, 7 wickets whilst also scoring a useful 20 with the bat in the hosts’ second innings total of 181 where runs were desperately sought.
In terms of the general make up of the Test side, Justin Greaves is a useful addition to a stable that has both grit in the form of Hope and Chanderpaul and power in the form of Shamar and Seales. He lends refreshing presence to a side led by an experienced hand for West Indies cricket in the form of Roston Chase, a brilliant exponent of off spin himself.
To a line up that often struggles to contain batters generally known to produce heaps of runs such as India or Australia, Justin Greaves is your first change bowler who can both put in the hard yards, generate seam movement and extract a wicket or two every now and again.
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And what’s more, he does that cheerfully sans complaint whilst seldom ever going over 130 clicks an hour. The seam bowling all rounder who at 32, is at the peak of his powers was among the few newly introduced West Indies talents that toured Australia for what became a memorable campaign back in 2023-24 season. And credit to the West Indies cricket board for encouraging and nurturing a fine talent that hails from the land of the iconic Sir Gary Sobers and is tireless towards the cause of the resurrection of the very sport through which West Indies emboldened their presence in the game as being iconic and irreplaceable!
Surely, as a batter, the right handed lower middle order man can fare even better. But he’s proven to be a capable contributor to the West Indies cause by hitting a maiden brilliant century in the form of the spirited 202* that was struck far away in alien New Zealand conditions, clearly a knock that deserved more attention at the international stage than it fetched last year.
Perhaps it could be argued that in talents like Justin Greaves, the fabric of West Indies cricket is asking serious questions of its followers who often seem satisfied in limiting them to be the game’s entertainers; the slashers who give the cricket ball a hard whack instead of a serious think.
But again, the 17 Test and 35 one day old cricketer, it ought to be mentioned, is still largely a developing story in the West Indies.
He’d do well to exercise more patience with the bat, to put in the hard yards that could lead to bigger breakthroughs such as centuries against harder sides to beat including England and India. But with 930 Test runs off just 32 innings averaging over 33 and with 500 plus runs from 23 one day knocks, Justin Greaves has begun well. And compellingly!
Hopefully, there are far more memorable journeys to undertake than he already has in his brief but exciting career!
